Mesograph



C. M. SWINGLE.

MESOGRAPH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11, I920.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

1&06375.

3 SHEETSSHEET l.

C. M. SWINGLE.

MESOGRAPH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11. 1920.

06,"??5. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

'vwemto a C. M. SWINGLE.

MESOGRAPH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11. 1920.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES-M. SWINGLE, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO.

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

Application filed February 11, 1920. Serial No. 357.852.

structure wherein a message printed off onthe keys in plain language, will appear on the paper in an indecipherable code form. Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the kind alluded to, which can be used for translating the message from code form back into the vernacular. A further object of the'invention is to provide a simple means whereby a vast number of combinations may be made, the construction and operation being such that the resulting message will remain incapable of translation, saving at the hand of the initiated.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of, devices'of that type to which the invention appertains.

With the above and'other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, 'the" i nvention resides in the combinationandarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that, within the scope of what is claimed, changes in the precise embodiment of the invention shown can be made without departing from the spirit of the inve tion.

In the accompanyi g drawings Figure 1 shows, in vertical section, a machine constructed in accordance with the invention, certain of the type levers being omitted, for the sake of clearness in illustration; Figure 2 is a section on the line 22 of Figure 1, parts appearing in elevation, and parts being broken away, the view being in substance, a front elevation; Figure 3 is a perspective view delineating the spacing bar and attendant parts; Figures 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating the operation of the machine when the message is being run off in code form; and Figures 6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating the operation of the machine when the message is being decoded.

The structure forming the subject matter of this application includes a frame, which,

at the outset, may be denoted generally by the numeral 1, since the frame may be variously constructed, without jeopardizing the utility of the invention. Those parts of the frame which exercise peculiar functions in the operation of the device, will be alluded to as the description progresses. The upper portion of the frame 1 carries an annular support 2 bridged over by a top plate 3. The top plate 3 is supplied with a depending tubular bearing 4 carrying an arm 5 extended through an opening 6 in the top plate 3. The arm 5 carries an upstanding bearing 7, and there is a horizontal bearing 8 on the top plate 3 in front of the bearing 7.

A type wheel 9 is journaled for rotation in a-horizontal plane on the depending tubular bearing 4 and is supplied with ears 10 to which angular levers 11 are pivoted as shown at 12, the lower ends of the levers 11 carrying type 14. The upper ends of the levers 11 are provided with outwardly projecting fingers 15.

An annular guide flange 16 projects inwardly from the support 2, plungers 17 being mounted for vertical reciprocation in the guide flange, the plungers being supplied with inwardly extended projections 18,

adapted to cooperate with the fingers 15 and to actuate the type levers 11. The lower ends of the plungers 17 are pivoted at 19 to forwardly extended levers 20, accessible from the forward portion of the machine and provided with buttons 93. Other key levers 21 are su plied, these levers operating independent y of the type levers ll and the type wheel 9. The key levers 21 are pivotally supported at their rear ends, asindioated at 22, upon th rear lower portion o the frame 1, and they are alluded to at this place out of their logical order in the description because the pivotal mounting of the levers 21 serves to illustrate the manner in which the rear ends of the levers 20 are mounted on the rear portion of the frame 1. The key levers 20 and 21 may be swung upwardly by any desired means. Springs 90, cooperating with the levers 20 and 21 and supported upon a bar 91 constituting a part of the frame of the machine, will effect the result above alluded to, the upward movement of the levers 20 and 21 being limited by contact with a front bar 92 constituting a portion of the frame 1 of the machine.

Hangers 23 are mounted upon the fixed annular support 2, and to these hangers upper ends of angular levers 24 are pivoted as shown at 25, the lower ends of the levers carrymg type 26. The levers 24 are, provided at their upper ends with outward extensions 27 pivotally connected, by means of links 28, with the key levers 21 hereinbefore alluded to.

The type wheel 9 is mounted to rotate with a pinion 29 meshing into a gear wheel 30, the gear wheel 30 being'co-nnected with a beveled pinion 31, to move therewith, the gear wheel 30 and the beveled pinion 31 being carried by a shaft 32 journaled in the bearing 7. The beveled pinion -31 meshes into a beveled pinion 33 on a shaft 34 jour-- naled in the bearing 8 and provided, at the front of the machine with an operating knob 35 whereby the shaft 34 may be r0- tated.

A rotatablemember, denoted generally by the numeral 36, is secured-to the shaft 34 to turn therewith. The rotatable member '36 is a composite structure, and includes a forward disk 37 provided with characters 38, a front ratchet wheel 39, and a rear ratchet wheel 40, the teeth of the ratchet wheels 3:) and 40 facing in opposite directions. A groove 41 exists between the ratchet wheels 39 and 40. The numeral 42 denotes a dial secured as shown at 43 to the frame 1 and provided with characters 44', the dial 42 being of annular form, and the disk 37 with its characters 38 being visible through the open center of the dial, A spring arm 45 is secured at one end to the top plate 3 and is provided with a roller 46 cooperating with one of the ratchet wheels 39 and 40.

The spring arm 45 and its roller 46 constitutes a pawl adapted to prevent back lash or lost motion when the wheels 39 and 40 together with the shaft 34 are rotated as hereinafter described. I

The numeral 47 has been. employed to designate, generally, a vertically moving actuating member, including a head 48 having an offset pawl 49' adapted to cooperate, at different times, with' the ratchet wheels 39 and 40. In the drawings, the pawl 49 has been shown in operative relation to the ratchet wheel '39. The head 48 is supplied with aguiding finger, serving to steady the actuating member 47, the finger 50 being received in the groove 41 between the ratchet Wheels 39 and 40. The actuating member 47 embodies a stem 51, the lower end of which. carries a compression spring 53, the stem having a head 54 at its lower end;

The numeral 52 denotes a rider made up of a base 55 and a cylinder 56 carried by the base,'the cylinder '56 having a cap 57 in which the stem 51 of the actuating member 47 is adapted to reciprocate, the spring 53 and the head 54 being located within the cylinder 56. The cylinder portion 56 of the 'in Figure 1.

rider 52 is supplied with openings 58 and 59,

in either of'which, a screw 60 may be mounted, the screw projecting inwardly far enough so that it may cooperate with the head 54 on the stem 51 in a way to be described hereinafter. In the drawings, the

screw 60 is shown as being mounted in the openings 58.

The spacing mechanism of the machine embodies a pair of levers fulcrumed at their rear ends, as indicated at 66, on the frame 1 of the machine, the forward ends of the levers being connected by a spacing bar 68. A U-shaped bracket 63 is pivoted at 67 to the levers 65, to therear of the spacing bar 68, and is adapted to reciprocate in guides 64 on the sides of the frame 1. The base 55 of the rider 52 rests on the top portion of the U-shaped bracket 63 and is held thereto, for adjustment along the top portion of the bracket, by means of yokes 61 and set screws 62.

The top plate 3 supports the carriage, the

platen and other necessary parts of a type? variously constructed, and in view of the fact that they form no part of the present invention, they have been shown in Figure 1 merely in dotted lines, the operation of the invention being entirely clear, independently of the particular kind of carriage, platen, scale and the like, which the manufacturer may see fit to employ when the de-- vice is embodied in a commercial form. a

Any desired method for indicating the one in decoding may be employed in the message. Thus, the message may open with the word R A M signifying that the pawl 49 was to the right of the rotatable member 36, during the writing of the message, as shown in Figure 2, and signifying that A was set to M, as hereinbefore described.

An understanding of the machine is based upon two operations, which, although related, are sufli'ciently distinct so that they may be considered separately. These opmoving upwardly through the tubular bearing 4, to cooperate with the platen, one of the levers being thus shown in dotted line The levers 11. it should be recalled are carried by the rotable type wheel 9. The plunger 17 and its projection 18 do not always actuate the same lever 11, but

actuate different levers 11, depending upon the'amount to which the type wheel 9 has been'rotated.

When the forward ends of the levers 21 are pressed downwardly, the links 28, cooperating with the extensions 27. of the levers 24, tilt the said levers on their fulcra 25 and cause the type 26 to swing upwardly into the tubular bearing 4 to cooperate with the platen. When one of the levrs 21 is actuated, that lever will always operate the same type lever 24 and cause the same type 26 to print.

Havingthus traced out the printing operation, the matter of coding and decoding will now be taken up.

Let it be supposed that it has been agreed between the sender and the receiver that the machine shall be started in operation with the-letter A of the characters 38 on the'forward disk 37 disposed opposite to the'letter M of the characters 44 on the dial 42, the parts being thus shown in the diagrammatic figure which is numbered 4. The sender locates the letters A and M as above described, by rotating the forward disk 37 through the instrumentality of the button 35. Rotation is imparted to the shaft 34, the beveled pinions 33 and 31 rotating the gear wheel 30 and the gear wheel 30 rotating the type wheel 9 through the instrumentality of the pinion 29. The type wheel 9 is now so disposed that the type 14 on the lever 11, which prints the letter A is so arranged that, through the medium of the parts 15, 18, and 17, the said type lever 11, carrying the letter A will be operated by the particular lever20 the button 93 of which bears the letter M. The machine is now set for writing a message in code.

Suppose that the message to be transmitted reads, in the vernacular Send troops Then the operator simply presses those levers 20, the buttons 93 of which spell the word Send. On the paper, however, the word Send will not be written, but, rather, there will ppear, as shown at 100 in Figure 4, tti: unintelligible letters G S B R.

After one word has been run off, as above described, the operator swings the spacing mechanism 65-68 downwardly by pressure on the space bar 68. The U-sh apedbracket 63 moves downwardly in the guides 64, carrying with it the rider 52. The inner end of the screw ultimately engages the head 54 and carries the pawl 49 downwardly, along with the actuating member 47, the pawl 49 cooperating with the ratchet wheel 39 to rotate the disk 37 througha space represented by one notch on the bracket wheel 39. Through an actuating train embodying the shaft 34, the beveled pinion 33, the beveled pinion 31, the gear wheel 30 and the pinion 39, the type wheel 9 is ro'tatedand the particular type lever 11., the type 14 of which carries the letter A now cooperates'with the particular lever 20, the button 93 of which shows the letter N. Note the position of the letter A on the disk 37, with respect to the letterN on the dial 42 in Figure 5. The operator now presses those buttons 93 bearing the letters which spell the word troops. The word troops however does not appear on the paper but, rather, the G E B B C F is printed, as shown in Figure 5. i

Let it be supposed that the receiver has before him the message reading G S B R G E B B C F, and thathe wishes to decode the same. Then, recalling that the combination A -M has been fixed upon, the disk 37 is rotated by the knob 35 until, as shown in Figure 6, the letter M on the disk 37 is opposite to the letter A on the dial 42. It is obvious that whenthe disk 37 is rotated as above described, the shaft 34 and the type wheel 9 will be rotated until the levers 11 are rearranged with respect to the plungers 17 and the corresponding levers 20. The operator now presses those buttons 93 which spell the words G S B R G E B B C F and there is rinted, first, the word Send as shown in igure 6, and then the word troops as indicated in Figure 7, the message thus being decoded.

Prior to beginning the decoding operation, the rider 52 is pushed to the left (Figure 2) and the pawl 49 is reversed, so that the pawl cooperates with the ratchet wheel 40, rather than with the ratchet wheel 39. Therefore, when the receiver operates the parts -68 to make a space after the word Send the letter N on the disk 37 is disposed-opposite to the letter A on the dial 42 thus creating' a rearrangement -of the type levers 11 with respect to the ,plungers 17 and the keys 20 which actuate those to decode the message without being in pos- A session of the key arrangement which has been previously fixed upon. Further, the number of the starting combinations between the characters 38 on the disk 37 and the characters 44 on the dial 42 may be said to be almost infinite, or, at least, to be bounded only by the mathematical laws of permutations and combinations. The spring 53 serves to prevent shocks and jars when the device is operated. If the screw 60 is shifted from the o ning 58 to the opening 59, the ratchet wheel 39 will be turned two notches at a time instead of one and here, again, avariable element is introduced, which will tend torender the deciphering of a code message exceedingly difficult, saving by those conversant with the predeterminedmethod of operation. The disk 37 has been shown as facing the operator, but it will be understood that this disk may be located as desired, it being convenient but not mandatory that the disk be presented directly tothe view of the operator. The letters printed-on the paper do not always stand upright, as shown in Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7. As a matter of fact, the printed letters incline more and more with respect to the vertical, as the type wheel 9 is rotated, and under some conditions, the printed letters will appear upside down. This, in a code message is no disadvantage and, it may be a positive advantage. For instance, the English letter M-whenturned to the proper angle, will appear in the text like the Greek letter sigma. In order to prevent a crowding or overlapping of the printed characters on the paper, the letters may be made approximately square, and .be so spacedthat the letters will not overlap, no matter what their'position with respect to an upright line may be. Obviously, the type 14 and 26 may not print letters. Characters of for. rotating the wheel to bring different type levers into operative relationto the keya'ctuated members.

2; In a device of the class described, a rotatable t pewheel; type levers pivoted to the whee key-actuated members; aspacing mechanism; and a device actuated by the spacing-mechanism for rotating the wheel to bringdiiferent type levers into operative re- .byto bring the type levers into operative relation to the key-actuated members.

5. In a device of the class described, a r0- tatable type wheel; type levers pivoted to the wheel; key-actuated members; means for rotating the wheel to bring different type levers into operative relation to the'key-actuated members, said means comprising oppositelytoothed ratchet wheels; a spacing mechanism; a pawl; and a rider carrying the pawl, the rider being shiftable on the spacling mechanism to cause the pawl to cooperate with the ratchet wheels one at a time.

6. In a deviceof the class described, arotatable type wheel; type levers pivoted to the wheel; key-actuated members; means for rotatingthe wheel to bring different type levers into operative relation to the key actuated members; and printing means under the control of an operator and independent of. the tyipe levers. 7

7. n a device of the class described, a frame; keys movably mounted on the frame; plungers pivoted to the keys and including operating parts; type levers; and means for shifting the type levers in an orbit with respect to said operating parts,

8. In a device of the class described, a ro- 3 t-atable type wheel; type levers pivoted to' the wheel; key-actuated me-mbers cooperating with the type levers; a spacing mechanism; means coacting with the spacing mechanism for imparting astep by step'rotation to the wheel; and a device. interposed in the last specified means for varying the steps when rotation is imparted to the wheel. In testimony that I clalm the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.-

CHARLES M. SIVINGLE. Witnesses:

CARL D. AINGER. MILDRED A. FEITEN. 

